Plastic Bag Recycling Challenge

In 2013 Will County began to partner with TREX Company, Inc. to offer a plastic bag recycling program in interested schools. TREX is a unique company, utilizing millions of plastic bags each year to create its composite lumber product that is subsequently turned into benches, decks, and other finished products. In turn, these bags are kept out of our landfills, both locally and nationally. By building this partnership with schools, students can learn the importance of recycling, keep plastic out of the waste stream, and be rewarded for their efforts.

Of course, the best solution to the abundance of plastic shopping bags is to use cloth reusable bags for our shopping needs. But even with all of our good intentions, some plastic bags do become a part of our lives, including the plastic film that wraps rolls of toliet paper or covers the dry cleaning. This challenge gives students and their families an opportunity to properly recycle those inevitable plastic items.

TREX will be offering the one school bringing in the most bags (per capita) a recycled plastic bench. Also, each participating school will receive a birdhouse made of TREX lumber. The 2014 bag collection will kick-off on November 15 and run until April 22 (Earth Day).

Click HERE for the School Plastic Bag Recycling Challenge Application.

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Each participating school receives a Trex birdhouse

The grand prize is a Trex park bench!

Each participating school will receive a cardboard box to hold 500 bags. When the box is filled, a school volunteer will take the bags to a participating local store. TREX subsequently will pick up those bags.